I adjust my grip on the knife, not fully trusting that this isn’t some kind of ploy to catch me off guard. “Then you better start talking.”
“I need to see Cate. She needs to hear it from me.”
“Cate is busy right now. Rescuing her sister. The one your wife has taken hostage.” I press the tip of the dagger into his fragile skin, a thin line of blood breaking through.
“She is not just my wife. Grecia and I are Bonded. Have been since we were kids.” He grimaces. “It doesn’t excuse what I did, what I’ve been party to, but I didn’t have a choice, not really.”
My mind whirls with the implications of what he’s saying, not just what it means for Cate’s past, but what it could mean for our future. “Being Bonded doesn’t take away your free will.”
Harold leans forward, almost as if he craves more pressure from the blade of my knife. “Perhaps not for someone like you, Callum Reid.”
“You know then, about Cate and me?”
He nods, his head lolling. “I’m glad she has you.”
“She will always have me.”
“She will need you. When she finds out the truth.” His hand grips my arm once again, but this time his grasp couldn’t stop a small child it’s so weak. “Please, Callum. I don’t have much time left. I need to see my daughters.”
The word hangs between us and my stomach tightens. “Your daughters?”
“Please.” It’s all he manages to get out before he collapses, falling half out of the bed.
I reach for his neck, checking for a pulse. It’s there, but it’s weak. We don’t have much time. I scoop Harold MacVeigh into my arms. He’s so frail it’s easy to carry him. I push my way into the hall, no time to worry about anything other than getting Harold to Cate.
I might have entered that old stone building prepared to kill the man Cate sees as a father, but if what Harold hinted at is true, she deserves a chance to hear the story directly from him. I couldn’t live with myself if I let the opportunity be stolen from her.
Though the last few years have turned out differently than I expected, I would be a fool to pretend they have been anything other than perfect. Watching the girls learn and grow, being there to see my daughters turn into brilliant, kind, thoughtful young women, has been the greatest gift of my life.
I suppose I should have known they would turn out to be Gifted. I am determined now more than ever to make sure my daughters have more rights than my wife. I never want them to go through what Grecia had to. Maybe things would have been different for us if Grecia had always been allowed to embrace her true self.
As it stands now, I find myself avoiding Grecia, though the cost is high. I still burn for her, ache for her in a way that physically hurts, but so much has happened. She changed after the girls were taken from her—after Diana told her the babies had died. And now I find it nearly impossible to be in her company. Not just because of how she’s changed but because I know I am keeping the greatest secret from her. Her daughters are alive, but for their own safety, I must keep them from her.
How can I be expected to look my wife in the eye knowing what I know?
—excerpt from the journal of Harold MacVeigh
25
Cate
Wishing it wouldn’tbe a death sentence to light a flame so we could see our surroundings, I lead Dom through the darkened hallways of this castlelike fortress.
“Do you know where you’re going?” she whispers fiercely, the first sound either of us has dared to make since we entered the stone building.
I shake my head, knowing she can’t see me but not wanting to risk making any more noise, continuing to feel my way along the corridors. I don’t know where I’m going, not really, but I know I’m going to find my sister, and for now, that’s all I need. I let my intuition guide me through the darkness. Andra and I have been together since before we were born. We have never spent this much time apart, and I vow to never let her slip from me again.
If I hadn’t been so focused on Callum, none of this would have ever happened. I should have manipulated him the first time he came for me, gotten the information I needed, and escaped La Puissance before Lady M ever had the chance to take my sister.
And yet I can’t force myself to regret it. I will save my sister. I will make sure Callum secures his spot as the Scotan candidate. Only then will I allow myself to think about what comes after. I’m still not convinced a future with Callum is the right thing for him. But I pray we both live long enough to make that choice for ourselves.
I drag my fingers along the rough stone edges of the walls, using touch to guide me. The silence holds no sounds of fighting or skirmishes, no one raising any kind of alarm. I let that soothe my fears for Callum.
At this very moment, he might be watching the life drain from the man who, up until recently, showed me nothing but kindness and love.
What a difference a few months makes.
My instincts pull me toward a shadowed alcove, a quiet and hidden space, surely, but certainly not big enough to act as a hiding place for a human being.
